Owing to the advancements in the digital realm, the need for data-driven processes has become imperative for every business irrespective of nature and size to sustain in the present marketplace. Data analytics and business analytics are the two major aspects of big data that hold their own significance. Their implementation and end-purpose both vary and this article will showcase how data analytics and business analytics, while interrelated, are different from one another.

Data Analytics

Data analytics is basically a technical aspect of big data. Data analysts require technical skills as his/her responsibility include data cleaning, purging, identifying correlations, etc. They also need to be aware of the latest trends and tools in Marketing and continuously test their data based on the tools and draw useful insights from them.

Benefits of Data Analytics:

• Improves the operational efficiency
• Ensures quality and consistency in the performance
• Facilitates better decision making
• Easy access to valuable data

Business Analytics

Business analytics, on the other hand, is a process-oriented and functional role wherein the analyst is responsible for analyzing the day-to-day operation of the organizations. Business analysts need the skills to understand the results of data analysis, simplify the analysis and present it to the decision-makers of the company.

Benefits of Business Analytics

• Execute data mining and explore data to identify new patterns and relationships
• Comprehensive statistical and quantitative analysis to elucidate the reason behind certain results
• Test past decision via A/B and multivariate testing
• Leverage predictive modelling and analytics to predict future results.

Comparisons between Data Analytics and Business Analytics

• Focus

A business analyst is responsible for creating reports. Key performance index (KPI) trends in the data that would help business with the decision making the process. Data analyst on the other is responsible for interpreting data to find patterns, correlations and develop models to identify how data responds to those models.

• Process

A business analyst performs a static and comparative study of the data. Data analyst execute an explanatory analysis then implement a data mining process in order to offer a clear perspective on the gathered data.

• Transformation

Business analyst transforms the data upfront based on extensive planning. Transformation within data analytics is implemented in a database based on the demand of the data.

Data Analyst or Business Analyst – Which Career Path to Choose?

To determine a career path between the two, an individual would require to consider three factors:

• Their educational and professional background
• Their interests
• Their desired career path

Irrespective of the differences between data analysts and business analysts, professionals in both careers have promising futures. Both the fields are in strong demand and therefore, individuals enrolling in either data or business analytics certification and acquiring such professional certifications, have high possibilities of landing a lucrative job.